When we think of voting, our heads instantly jump to the presidential election. Those elections have the most drama and pizzaz, plus the most news coverage. What most Americans don’t think about are the midterm elections.
The term “midterm election” comes from the fact that these elections are often held in the middle of the presidential term, which is four years. Despite their profoundly large impact on our government, midterm elections have historically low turnouts. However, voting trends show that when voters are more dissatisfied with their presidents, they are likely to assign a greater importance to the midterm elections. For example, the 2018 midterm elections during President Donald Trump’s term had the highest voter turnout since 1914 with 49.4% of voter participation.
I talked to my AP Government teacher, Ms. Malcolm, about her thoughts on youth voting as a teacher who discusses politics and the importance of voting to high school seniors. When asked about why youth voter turnout was so much lower than other groups of people, Ms. Malcolm noted three main reasons: cynicism of the impact of voting, lack of information on how to get involved, and the feeling of disconnect to politics. These reasons can be attributed to the fact that students often reach voting age when they’re busy freshmen in college, and don’t pay taxes. However, Ms. Malcolm says that nowadays, students are “much more civically engaged, much more involved in (their) communities and politics.” She also notes that in the era of social media, kids are much more informed alongside their peers.
The midterm elections elect members to the Senate and House of Representatives, the two bodies of Congress that create and discuss legislation. One third of the Senate seats are open, while every representative’s seat is up for grabs during the midterms. With so many issues on the ballot, such as the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the midterms are more important now than ever.
Topics such as student debt, LGBTQ+ rights, and individual civil rights are addressed in midterm elections. The midterms determine whether or not the presidential agenda will go forward and be implemented, or stalled in Congress.
On November 8th, 2022, cast your vote!
Thank you for reading about the upcoming midterm elections by Angel Liang, our staff writer! Stay tuned for more works by Angel in the future and read more about her here. Stay tuned for future literary works by Angel and our other writers.